AN:
1. Dear CW, yes the first bit is your scene. Do not take legal action against me, I'm a poor student and am only using it to set the stage.
2. Dear beautiful readers, yes this is my second update in one day. I wanted you to have it because I'll be dying a slow death writing a 48 hour exam starting tomorrow.
3. This has not been edited. I just wanted to put it out there. I get a little excited sometimes. I'll edit once the exam is over.
4. I love you. Not as much as Olicity because that would be weird but definitely as much as Barricity because that's super cute. That is all.
"You have to see this. I pulled up CC traffic camera footage from across the street of Applied Sciences," Felicity said pulling up a larger version of the footage before turning the tablet toward Oliver.
"This is three minutes after the alarm went off."
Felicity was so absorbed with watching the footage again she didn't hear the distinct sound of Barry's footsteps and the dragging of wheels against the granite floors.
"Can we help you with something detective?" Oliver asked. His eyes trained on the intruder, the displeasure blatantly obvious in his voice.
Felicity turned quickly and silently reprimanded herself for not preparing Oliver for this earlier.
"Oh, CSIs aren't actually detectives. Uh, we don't even carry guns. Just some plastic baggies," Barry offered with a happy lilt to his voice.
One of the happiest smiles Felicity had been able to summon lately broke across her face. She couldn't stop the small laugh that bubbled forward. She was rewarded with a smile that mirrored her own, despite Oliver's penetrating gaze.
"Uh, where should I set up my equipment?" Barry asked pointing to a small suitcase that he had brought with him.
"Uh, I'll show you." Felicity said, her body moving toward him of its own accord.
"What's going on?" The tense question filled the room. For a few moments, Felicity had forgotten about Oliver, which had you asked her any other day, was next to impossible, but suddenly all she could perceive was the tension emanating from the man standing beside her.
Her smile quickly fading, Felicity turned to address Oliver and then quickly back to Barry to try and explain the situation, but Barry answered for her. Once again, she silently reprimanded herself for not being quicker about it. She sent up a silent prayer hoping that whatever Barry said would calm the beast that seem to be rampaging inside Oliver, but she knew her prayers were in vain.
"What your assistant said was that you preferred to keep the investigation in-house. So, I cleared it with my captain to give you a hand," Barry said nodding as if her were confirming his own statement.
For the second time today, Oliver held her by the elbow and silently pulled her back towards him.
"What are you doing?" he whispered. He seemed off-kilter and Felicity couldn't quite place what was bothering him. She knew he was more worried than he let on and wondered what he may be keeping from her. Undoubtedly, it was another beautiful island girl that was the cause of his trouble Felicity guessed, but was vexed by the thought.
"We need to find this intruder and he seems to know about it more than any of us. Forensic sciences isn't exactly my forte. So… " Felicity paused as she looked at Barry, who was surveying his new surroundings.
"I think we need him. Wouldn't you?" she offered, her voice full of hope, and her mind desperately seeking to think of anything but his searing touch.
"Mmhm." Oliver's response was clipped, his lips pulled together to show his reluctance.
Felicity released the air from her lungs that she hadn't realized she had been holding. "I'll show you around," Felicity offered brightly as she walked towards Barry.
As she approached him, she took him in. He stood there under Oliver's steady gaze, but did not shrink. He stood simply, happily, with one hand tucked into his pocket and the other on the handle of his suitcase. She watched as a boyish smile played on his lips as he looked at her and then nodded quickly at Oliver.
Felicity walked ahead of him to grab her coat and purse, throwing a last glance at Oliver, who seemed to be in a serious conversation with Diggle. She would have to remember to ask about that later.
She looked over at Barry who was now beside her as they stood waiting for the elevators.
"So you now know where you can find me and Oliver."
"I hope I didn't get you into any trouble back there," Barry asked as he ran his free hand across his neck, looking up at her sheepishly through thick brown eyelashes.
"Oh, no. Oliver has a tendency to forget what he decided on so… he just needed to be reminded," Felicity asked her voice a little softer than it had been earlier. She pushed the button to go down.
"Here. I had security make you a temporary ID so that you can come and go as you please. It gives you access to the IT department here at Queen Consolidated and the Applied Sciences building. All non-sensitive corporate files are accessible through a secure remote server." Felicity said handing him the badge.
As Felicity handed Barry his badge their fingers brushing momentarily. Felicity couldn't help but notice how, despite giving her a mild case of schoolgirl butterflies, Barry's touch was simple and warm. It didn't make her skin feel as if it were alight with passion. She didn't feel as though she would combust under the feeling of his skin. It wasn't Oliver's touch, but it felt nice regardless. A little downtrodden, Felicity cast the thoughts aside.
A high-pitched ding alerted them that the elevator had arrived. Felicity stepped in to the elevator, but turned around upon the realization she hadn't been followed. She cast a glance over her shoulder at Barry who seemed to turn over the badge in his hand, a smile playing on his lips and one eyebrow raised quizzically.
"Barry? Everything okay?" Felicity asked, holding her hand out to stop the elevator door from closing.
Barry looked up and smiled at her. As he followed her into the elevator he commented, "It has my picture on it."
"Oh!" Felicity said, heat rising to her cheeks.
"Well security required a recent picture and I, uh, may have taken some liberties, with, uh, some internet searches of my own," she said looking anywhere other than at him.
"That's impressive because I don't really have much information about myself online. I'm kind of private that way."
"Mmhm," Felicity said noncommittally and nodded a touch too nervously. She noted that the doors of the elevator seemed to be closing in slow motion.
"Actually, this picture is the one they took of me when I joined Central City's CSI unit. I was pretty sure the only place it existed was on the police department's database."
"Oh? That's funny" Felicity asked, staring at the floor numbers change, willing them to change faster. Fifteen more floors to go.
"Computers aren't really my specialty, but I read somewhere that Central City actually uses a new type of security system developed by the NSA. It's supposed to be virtually impossible to break into."
Ten floors.
"That's really interesting. So, we're just going to stop at the IT department first so I can give you a bit of a walk through," she said, slowing down every word just to fill up the time. Barry Allen was smarter than she had remembered and Felicity wondered if the unlimited access she had given him had been a good idea; it had seemed so at the time.
Five floors.
"Felicity?" Barry asked tentatively.
"Hm?" Felicity asked, finally meeting his gaze.
She saw the twinkle in his eye and she knew he had figured it out.
"I hope I'm not overstepping, but did you happen to break in…"
"Oh! Look! Here we are. The IT department!" Felicity exclaimed.
Over the next ten minutes Felicity did not stop talking. In fact, she didn't even take a moment to breathe, or so it seemed. Every computer, personnel, and mouse pad was explained in painstaking detail. When she finally stopped talking they were back at the elevator and Felicity pushed the down button numerous times with more force than she intended.
When the elevator dinged its arrival once more, nerves overtook Felicity. Stepping into that tiny box with Barry felt like a death sentence. She didn't know how to throw him off her scent and her senses were still too inundated with anxiety to allow her brain to function.
"You're killing me here Felicity. Hypothetically, even if you could do it, it should've taken days not half an hour" Barry finally exhaled in a rush, moving closer to her subconsciously.
Felicity looked back at him, her eyebrows raised high above the upper rim of her glasses.
"How did you do it?" Barry asked sounding a little desperate.
Recognizing the call of a fellow academic, the desperate pursuit of knowledge and facts, Felicity puckered her lips and let out a slow steady breath. He wouldn't stop and she couldn't let this go on.
"I'm not admitting to anything, but if I tell you…" Felicity paused and took a step toward him. They were separated by inches, standing toe to toe in the middle of the empty elevator as they sped toward the ground floor.
Felicity hated herself for what she was going to do, but when you spend all of your waking hours with Oliver Queen you learn a thing or two, and it was time she used one of her new tactics – threats.
"If I tell you, then you let it go. Never bring it up again. You take it to your grave."
Barry swallowed thickly as Felicity leaned forward and whispered, "If you so much as breathe a word to anyone your days of subterfuge and gallivanting under false pretences of investigating crimes you weren't actually sent to investigate are over."
The shock of being caught was written over Barry's face. She had let him know she knew who he really was and she felt a swell of pride for doing her homework, but it was quickly displaced by guilt.
A moment passed between them, a moment in which Felicity realized she had sounded exactly like Oliver. As she stared into Barry's eyes, she saw something she wasn't expecting to see, something she hadn't seen since the day in the coffee shop when she turned over Walter's notebook to Oliver; Felicity Smoak wasn't expecting to see someone she could trust.
"I'm sorry," Felicity blurted out suddenly. "I don't want to threaten you. I don't mean to make threats. I mean I don't do it very often; only in dire circumstances and this seems to be one because no one can know. Can I trust you?"
"Yes," Barry responded vehemently. "I wouldn't tell a soul."
Looking down at her shoes and mumbled, "When I went to MIT, I worked part-time for Dr. Hardy who…"
"Who was the lead developer for the security system that the NSA uses," Barry finished for her.
Felicty smiled in response before she began to plead, "Please you can't…"
"I won't, but you realize that makes you one of the only people in the world that can do that."
"Yup," Felicity said, popping her lips at the final sound.
"Does Mr. Queen know that he has one of the brightest minds in the country working for him?" Barry complimented, causing Felicity to blush deeply in response.
For a moment, they were the only two people in the world. They had scarcely remembered their proximity to each other or the flushed look they both seemed to be wearing, and they had most certainly forgotten that the doors of the elevator had opened up to the lobby revealing an irate Oliver Queen on the other side.
"How astute of you Mr. Allen. However, I do in fact know that," Oliver responded in short angry sentences.
"O-Oliver!" Felicity jumped backwards at the intrusion. She didn't know why, but she felt like a kid who got their hand caught in the cookie jar.
"What are you doing here?" Felicity asked, exiting the elevator and putting some distance between Barry and herself.
"I happen to work here Felicity," Oliver replied with a hard smile.
"Actually, I thought I'd join you both on the tour. It would really be very interesting for me to observe the CSI process. I've always been so curious about how it all works," Oliver responded without a hint of a smile, placing his hand on the small of Felicity's back as he ushered her out the front doors.
"You were?" Felicity asked, stilling at his touch. Fire. Her body had finally exploded into flames and she cursed her traitorous body for responding in such a way. She needed him to stop having that effect on her.
As she walked onto the pavement outside she saw Diggle standing by the car with a poorly concealed smirk on his face. The frustration, confusion, and irritation Felicity felt whipped through her. She desperately wanted to avoid being in a car with Barry and Oliver; however before she could even process the events Oliver had a door open and urged her forward, his hand never leaving her. Felicity surmised that those touches would be the death of her.
"After you," Oliver whispered, his voice a soft caress that mesmerized her. When she came to her senses she was sitting across from Barry and Oliver had climbed in, shutting the door behind him.
Felicity was trapped in a car with Oliver, the man she did not love, and Barry, the man she had a crush on. As swiftly has Oliver appeared in the lobby, so did Felicity's headache.